Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Moldova and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing the Normal to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Eden Ahbez. All the underground hits.
All Severed Heads tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul Sonic Force record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Prince Buster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABC,
Ornette Coleman,
Fat Boys,
Alton Ellis,
a-ha,
Drexciya,
The Move,
The Toasters,
Whodini,
The Angels of Light,
The Blues Magoos,
Bobby Byrd,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Terry Callier,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Stetsasonic,
The American Breed,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Yusef Lateef,
The Alarm Clocks,
Qualms,
Japan,
Glenn Branca,
A Certain Ratio,
Sun Ra,
Joyce Sims,
Von Mondo,
Sandy B,
Juan Atkins,
The Misunderstood,
The Busters,
The Standells,
Black Pus,
The Red Krayola,
Crooked Eye,
Ronnie Foster,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Donny Hathaway,
The Smoke,
Lungfish,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Kurtis Blow,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Brothers Johnson,
The Neon Judgement,
Scion,
Hashim,
Gastr Del Sol,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Offenders,
U.S. Maple,
Harpers Bizarre,
Zero Boys,
Minor Threat,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Gun Club,
Connie Case, Connie Case, Connie Case, Connie Case.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.